Since college, Jill had slept strange hours. Some night she wouldn't fall into bed until four or five in the morning and sometimes not at all. Every now and then, she managed to keep herself up for twenty-four hours or more, only to crash and end up sleeping for a whole day.
She was in the midst of one of those when the banging woke her up and for a moment, she wasn't even sure where the hell she was. Falling asleep in the lab and the rec room happened more often than falling asleep at home.
"Jesus, just a sec," she mumbled, pushing her hair out of her eyes as she rolled out of the bed. A second later she was framed in the doorway, staring blearily at Freddy. "Morning?" Or maybe it was afternoon. Hell, maybe it was evening.
To be honest he hadn't actually been expecting her to even be home, let alone sleeping. Sure it was almost six, but that was really fuckinf early to be dozing when there was a fucking huge mental and emotional crisis at hand and standing in the doorway with a small red velvet box (why did the damn things need to be furry anyway? Was there seriously any point to that? How did furry get interpretted as romantic or whatever it was supposed to be?) brandished as though it were an active grenade and he was too stupid to throw it away.
"I have a problem." he announced, taking in her rumpled appearance and then adding a somewhat mumbled "Morning," as an after thought.
For a moment, Jill just stood there, her gaze drifting from Freddy's face to the box he had in his hand and then back again. "Okay," she said, then stepped back from the doorway to let him in. As it was, she couldn't be sure what exactly his problem was, but she figured he'd come to tell her.
Why else would he have been banging on her door like that?
"There's a chair," she said, stifling a yawn. "Sit down and I'll get... something." Times like this, she wished she had alcohol in the hut again. Something that might calm him down.
"Sorry," he said, the realization that he had woken her up, dragged her out of bed and thrown a problem that wasn't her's in her direction, now beginning to dawn on him. But despite some sheepishness, he didn't retreat because this was a geniune problem, and freinds were for pawning your problem off on to. It was in the job description, so he figured she'd deal.
"I'm sorry, but I have an issue." He briefly looked around her hut, trying to remember if he'd ever actually been inside, and grabbed the available chair as passed the small red box from hand to hand.
"I think the island might be trying to really fuck with me, but I'm not completely sure."
"Freddy, it's fine," Jill assured him, managing to get him a glass of water before she crossed back over to where he was and offered it to him before she perched on the edge of the bed.
"The island fucks with everyone. What's up?" she asked, tucking one of her legs under her body as she looked at him. He looked nervous from the way he was passing the small object in his hands back and forth as if it were too hot to really touch.
He wasn't sure how water was supposed to help, but it was something to momentarily focus on as he gulped a little down and set the glass down behind the leg of the chair where he wouldn't knock it over. Last thing he needed was to come in, bug her, and break her shit too.
"This is what's up," he said, tossing her the little red box. "You got a bed, right? Anita got a bed too. I've seen people walking around with new stuff, heard them talking about what the island gave them, and I found that at my hut today with a tag that had my name on it. I swear to fucking God I thought my heart actually came loose and jumped up into my mouth."
Catching the box, Jill's eyebrows drew together as she frowned, but then she opened it to see the rings inside. "Huh," she said simply for a moment, because she sure as hell didn't know what to make of it either. If the island hand given her an engagement and a wedding ring, she probably would have thrown the damn things into the ocean.
"Maybe the island is hopeful of the future," she suggested a moment later, looking up at Freddy. "Maybe it just wants you to be prepared." It was still strange talking about the island like it was some kind of sentient being, but she'd given up trying to avoid that a long time ago.
"Maybe," he said, frowning. "Or maybe it's fucking with me. I still haven't even gotten the balls to ask Anita to think about living with me, and then it drops those into my life. I mean fucking Christ, it could mind it's own damn business."
Then again, maybe it was intended for later one. Like somekind of 'here they are when you need 'em' kinda thing. But Freddy had to admit he was really fucking paranoid about the kinda power the island seemed to have, and if he didn't say that he was scared that the island already knew what was going to happen and was getting him prepped for it, then he didn't like how uncontrolled that made him feel about his own life.
"Or maybe it's fucking with you," Jill agreed, closing the ring box again before she looked across the room at Freddy and tossed it back to him. "Maybe it's definitely fucking with you, but are you going to let it fuck with you or are you just going to tell it to fuck off?"
He could do this in his own time, Jill knew. If he wanted to do it at all, he could just take the rings and put them someplace safe and wait until he and Anita were both ready. "They're just rings, right?" she asked. "I mean, they can't do anything unless you ask the question."
"I hadn't even thought about marriage," he sputtered as he caught the box. "I mean fuck, we didn't even start fucking until a month ago. And sure, everything is going awesome, but I hadn't thought about that. It didn't even come to mind once that I might end up marrying her." Which was...actually really stupid of him. They'd been dating not as long as he'd dated some chicks before, but he couldn't even remember if they'd ever had a fight. Or argued. Or...well, anything that hadn't been good.
He narrowed his eyes. "I don't like the idea that a chunk of land might be paying more attention to my love life than me."
"Hey, it's okay," Jill assured him, trying to get him to calm down at least a little bit. "You haven't thought about marrying her and that's fine. Especially if it's only been a month or so. If you haven't thought about it, then put the rings somewhere and don't worry about it, okay? Something like that isn't worth the stress, especially if what you have right now is good."
That was the main thing, she figured. People almost always ruined a good thing by jumping too far ahead of themselves. She and Radek had done just that.
"Are you happy where you are with Anita right now?" she asked.
"Hell yeah, it's...awesome, actually. Everything is smooth and comfortable. I've dated some real hardass bitches and some really annoying clingy chicks, but she just makes them all look so fucking lame. She doesn't pick fights, she's easy to please, she's funny, she's gorgeous....she knows guns. Fucking Christ, she's perfect. We've never even had a fight and we knew eachother forever before we started going out in August." He ran the palm of his hand over his face, closing his eyes for a moment.
"I just can't wrap my head around the idea of being married to her though. That's a little too perfect. Or maybe she's some kind of secret Gorgon and once we tie the knot she'll manifest into this....raging PMSing cunt."
"Then don't worry about it, Freddy," Jill said as gently as she possibly could. "If you're happy, don't put any pressure on yourself to be anything more than you are now. Maybe you'll want to use that ring set someday and maybe that's what you've been given it for, but if you want to wait, then wait. That's not going to do anyone any harm."
And if he decided he did want to marry her after all, then Jill thought he should go for it. She had no idea how Anita might react, she didn't know the other woman at all, but there was no sense in living to regret not doing something.
"Waiting is good," he decided, running the pad of his thumb over the soft red velvet of the ring box. He didn't think he'd ever understand it, but then again, maybe there was nothing to understand. With a mental shrug, he slipped the box into the breast pocket of his shirt and absently tried to ignore the heavyness of it being there.
"But I'll tell you what, if I ever do decide to risk my neck by asking and she does say yes, you'll be the first one on the guest list."
"Well, I expect as much," Jill answered with a laugh, feeling the tension drain from the room just a little bit. "If I was even the second name on the guest list, I'd be hurt."
She wondered if he ever really would ask Anita, but in the end, it was up to him. Whatever he did, Jill hoped he'd be happy and he seemed happy now. He sure as hell didn't seem to need any help from the island.
"Second? Psssh, like I'd ever degrade you by makin' you second." As it was, he already had an idea of who actually would be second, and the fact that he was even considering allowing Gideon to be a guest at his hypothetical wedding was just a sign that this place made people way too comfortable with the over all fucked upness.
A wedding would be way too much hassle anyway. Seriously, he wasn't even chummy enough with anybody to even have a best man. What kind of wedding didn't have a best man?
She was in the midst of one of those when the banging woke her up and for a moment, she wasn't even sure where the hell she was. Falling asleep in the lab and the rec room happened more often than falling asleep at home.
"Jesus, just a sec," she mumbled, pushing her hair out of her eyes as she rolled out of the bed. A second later she was framed in the doorway, staring blearily at Freddy. "Morning?" Or maybe it was afternoon. Hell, maybe it was evening.
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"I have a problem." he announced, taking in her rumpled appearance and then adding a somewhat mumbled "Morning," as an after thought.
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Why else would he have been banging on her door like that?
"There's a chair," she said, stifling a yawn. "Sit down and I'll get... something." Times like this, she wished she had alcohol in the hut again. Something that might calm him down.
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"I'm sorry, but I have an issue." He briefly looked around her hut, trying to remember if he'd ever actually been inside, and grabbed the available chair as passed the small red box from hand to hand.
"I think the island might be trying to really fuck with me, but I'm not completely sure."
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"The island fucks with everyone. What's up?" she asked, tucking one of her legs under her body as she looked at him. He looked nervous from the way he was passing the small object in his hands back and forth as if it were too hot to really touch.
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"This is what's up," he said, tossing her the little red box. "You got a bed, right? Anita got a bed too. I've seen people walking around with new stuff, heard them talking about what the island gave them, and I found that at my hut today with a tag that had my name on it. I swear to fucking God I thought my heart actually came loose and jumped up into my mouth."
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"Maybe the island is hopeful of the future," she suggested a moment later, looking up at Freddy. "Maybe it just wants you to be prepared." It was still strange talking about the island like it was some kind of sentient being, but she'd given up trying to avoid that a long time ago.
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Then again, maybe it was intended for later one. Like somekind of 'here they are when you need 'em' kinda thing. But Freddy had to admit he was really fucking paranoid about the kinda power the island seemed to have, and if he didn't say that he was scared that the island already knew what was going to happen and was getting him prepped for it, then he didn't like how uncontrolled that made him feel about his own life.
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He could do this in his own time, Jill knew. If he wanted to do it at all, he could just take the rings and put them someplace safe and wait until he and Anita were both ready. "They're just rings, right?" she asked. "I mean, they can't do anything unless you ask the question."
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He narrowed his eyes. "I don't like the idea that a chunk of land might be paying more attention to my love life than me."
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That was the main thing, she figured. People almost always ruined a good thing by jumping too far ahead of themselves. She and Radek had done just that.
"Are you happy where you are with Anita right now?" she asked.
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"I just can't wrap my head around the idea of being married to her though. That's a little too perfect. Or maybe she's some kind of secret Gorgon and once we tie the knot she'll manifest into this....raging PMSing cunt."
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And if he decided he did want to marry her after all, then Jill thought he should go for it. She had no idea how Anita might react, she didn't know the other woman at all, but there was no sense in living to regret not doing something.
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"But I'll tell you what, if I ever do decide to risk my neck by asking and she does say yes, you'll be the first one on the guest list."
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She wondered if he ever really would ask Anita, but in the end, it was up to him. Whatever he did, Jill hoped he'd be happy and he seemed happy now. He sure as hell didn't seem to need any help from the island.
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A wedding would be way too much hassle anyway. Seriously, he wasn't even chummy enough with anybody to even have a best man. What kind of wedding didn't have a best man?
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